A systematic and practical description of the spasmodic cholera / [by] Alexander Smith.

  • Smith, Alexander, M. D.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A systematic and practical description of the spasmodic cholera / [by] Alexander Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    CHOLERA OF CULLEN. Vomiting and purging of bile. Anxiety. Violent gripings. Spasms of the abdominal mus cles, communicated to the extremities. The matter voided manifestly bile. When the bile is evacuated, the disease ceases. SPASMODIC CHOLERA. Vomitingand purging of serum Collapse, Burning sensation in the ab- domen. Spasms of the extremities, sel- dom reaching the abdomi- nal muscles. The excretions manifestly se- rous. When bile appears, the disease is subdued. The Cholera Morbus of 1669, as described by Sydenham, sect. iv. cap. 2, bears a much closer resemblance to the Spasmodic Cholera of the present time. VIII. THE SYMPTOMS OF SPASMODIC CHOLERA. The disease generally makes its attack suddenly, with great prostration of strength, and purging of turbid, green- ish water, attended or quickly followed by vomiting of a whey-like fluid; and these evacuations, at the commence- ment, contain portions of the natural contents of the prima; vise. Spasms of the extremities, and universal collapsion, quickly succeed. The eyes lose their lustre, sink deep in their sockets, and are surrounded, in the direction of the orbicularis, by a livid circle; the skin contracts over the shrunken muscles; and the countenance altogether assumes a ghastly expression. The tongue is dry, or slimy, and soon becomes cold; the thirst is intolerable, and cannot be quenched; the urine is suppressed; a cold, watery sweat flows in large drops from the surface of the body; and the restlessness is indeed terrible to bear. The pulse is hurried or irregular, thread-like, often innumerable, and soon becoming imperceptible at the wrists and temples. The hands and feet become chill, shrivelled, blanched, and racked by cramp. After an uncertain time, the spasms and evacuations cease,—the breathing becomes hurried,—